burn

I am sorry for not posting again last week. Although it was my intention- here we are at Thursday morning again and I am again finding myself with so much to say...hopefully it can fit into this space! First of all ERIC GOT A JOB!!! He started at Tiffin Motorhomes on Monday. He's been working 10 hour days to catch up on orders. Thank you Jesus for your provision. There are several people in the Ramp community here still without jobs. Please pray that something will open up for them and that the Lord will sustain them until then with peace.

So, now that Eric has a job, I'm at home with Raynie without a car! So we have been very inventive finding things to do all day. Lets just say that we may have watched Peter Pan one too many times. Last night I dreamed that Karis and I were learning how to fly! Ha! I wasn't able to stay up, whatever that means:) Hopefully the weather will warm up and we can spend some time outside. I have made some invites for play dates, the first one being today:) We're lucky to have numerous kids around here that are around karis' age.

Last Wednesday night Damon shared about The Secret Mountain of Gods Presence. (I think that was the name--if not that it was along those lines:) ) Since then and over the past week some things have just been stirring in us. God is challenging us to take this walk with Him to another place. He is challenging us to live in the Secret place . Only out of that secret place with Him can any good thing come. We are learning how to make Him our lives. Learning how to keep our minds stayed on Him. Learning how to live undistracted by life. It is definitely a process that can only by accomplished in us with the help of Holy Spirit. God is just pressing us to strip things away...whether that be TV, sports, sleep, or just wasting time. This relationship with Him is work. It is laborious. But its worth it. We are positioning our lives to live in His presence. At some moments that repositioning feels like getting a leg broken in order that it would heal correctly. We are learning how significant yet insignificant our lives are. We just desire to burn for Jesus and for the things that are on the heart of the Father. We desire to live a life poured out and laid down for his purpose. Because of that desire there has been a great laying down of things that seemed important- our gifts. We have had to come to the realization that if we really want a life laid down, that means us maybe giving up leading on a stage. Sharing our "gift". While gifts are given to us to share, there comes a time that God will say, "Give it up to know me." It seems like a risk. It seems unfair. It seems unwise. Yet, when you follow what God says to do, its' NEVER a risk. The risk would be to stay on the stage. (Casey made that statement last night about risk in his message).

I am led to think about Abraham, who was given Isaac but then asked by God to kill him. I think about David, who was anointed to be king, and then BACK into the field to herd sheep. I think about Joseph, given dreams from the Lord, then sent to the pit and the prison. And then John the Baptist. A life truly laid down. He was in line to be a priest. I'm sure the expectation was that He would fall in line to tradition. And yet, God asked something different of Him. God didn't need another priest in the temple...but what he did need was someone to prepare the way. These men all had a choice to follow what would be considered fair and right according to the word they were given. Abraham could have held onto Isaac, David could have pushed his way past a mad king to take his rightful place, Joseph could have lived his life in bitterness, and John. John could have been a priest. All of those outcomes could have seemed at the time, the rational obvious choice. But because of their laid down lives, look what God could do! He made Abraham the Father of many nations, David a man after His own heart, Joseph a provider to his people and John, a burning example of a life laid down. And so- when looking at these men, and the lives of the disciples, we are ruined to try and live an ordinary, what seems right life. Today, I want the sacrifice, the field, the pit and the wilderness to be where I live. Those are the places where true character is determined. Whatever has to be left behind, its worth it. This life is too short to live not poured out.

I know this probably seems extreme. We have decided that's where we want to live though. I want to live without reserve. I don't want the American dream. I want Gods dream for me. Whatever that looks like. Whatever that costs.
"Sometimes I fear I'm too intense for my own well being.... then I remember the man with fire in his eyes and a sword in his mouth and think, "well I could be worse". " -Molly Huff

This has definitely not been a wrap up of our literal week...but this is what is burning in us. Until next time....

No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shop window to display one's talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off. -Leonard Ravenhill